On May 13, 2016, Brown administration released the administration’s “May Revision” budget, which contains a bold proposal in a trailer bill to address California’s long-standing and consequential housing affordability problem, one that has been documented extensively by the Legislative Analyst’s Office.

In particular, the administration has proposed legislation—entitled Streamlining Affordable Housing Proposals—that would provide ministerial, or “by‑right,” land use entitlement provisions for multi-family infill housing developments that include an affordable housing component. The laudable goal of this important bill is to restrain development costs, improve the pace of housing production by increasing certainty and shortening the local approval process, and encourage an increase in housing supply.Continue Reading Governor Brown Proposes to Streamline Approval of Certain Local Housing Developments

At the conclusion of the Mexican-American War in 1848, the United States acquired California from Mexico through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.  The Treaty promised to honor Spanish and Mexican land grants.  While it is decidedly not a land use statute, the Treaty played a key role in Friends of Martin’s Beach v. Martin’s Beach 1 LLC, 246 Cal.App.4th 1312 (2016), a fascinating case that addressed a clash between the public and a billionaire property owner over the use and eventual closure of a road,  parking area, and Martin’s Beach on 53 acres of land south of Half Moon Bay.
Continue Reading Surfers Break with Billionaire in Ongoing Battle over Historic Coastal Property

On April 26, 2016, in Boxer v. City of Beverly Hills, 246 Cal.App.4th 1212 (2016), the Second District Court of Appeal roundly rejecting a takings lawsuit premised on alleged impairment of private views and speculative risk of fire danger caused by coastal redwood trees planted in a city park.
Continue Reading Impairment of Views from (or to) Private Property Does Not Constitute a Taking Requiring the Payment of Just Compensation

The federal Fair Housing Act is one of the most important pieces of Congressional legislation in the last half-century or more.  It was enacted in the 1960s after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at a time of considerable social unrest.  In that era, governmental entities at all levels had explicit or implicit policies that prevented integration even when developers had an economic rationale for wanting to build more dense or more affordable housing.  Congress thus enacted the FHA “to eradicate discriminatory practices within a sector of our Nation’s economy.”
Continue Reading Rezoning Denial May Give Rise to Liability for Discriminatory Zoning Practices

February 29, 2016 was a notable leap year day for the United States Supreme Court. To the surprise of most in the courtroom that day, Justice Clarence Thomas asked his first question from the bench in more than 10 years. The Court also issued its first round of orders since the February 13 death of Justice Antonin Scalia, including a denial of certiorari in California Building Industry Association v. City of San Jose, 61 Cal. 4th 435 (2015).
Continue Reading U.S. Supreme Court Denies Review of California Supreme Court Decision Upholding San Jose Inclusionary Housing Ordinance